Full-Time Faculty Non-Tenure Track

After successful conclusion of special negotiations and approval of the Memorandum of Agreement by members in January 2014, the union has worked diligently with RU management as they incorporated the new contract terms into RU policy for the new non-tenure track title series. The new reappointment and promotion guidelines for all non-tenure track faculty have been released. On January 1, 2015, a joint labor-management letter sent to Chancellors, Vice President for University Libraries, New Brunswick Deans and Directors announced that documents with detailed instructions/guidelines can be found on the Rutgers University's Office of Academic Labor Relations webpages under Academic Promotions and Reappointments for Non-Tenure Track Faculty. Union members (together with members elected to union office and union staff) will monitor the implementation of the new career path process.

The issue of instability of employment has not completely gone away, but multi-year contracts are more possible than ever before. We have successfully negotiated improvements in job security, even though NTT faculty positions (by definition and design) lack the guarantees provided by the tenure system.

The union made the following gains:

Proper evaluation, reappointment and promotion procedures.

Job security that lessens precarious working conditions. Every NTT faculty member is now eligible for (though not entitled to) multi-year contracts; violations of the terms of employment set forth in letters of appointment may be grieved.

We raised the salaries for lowest paid NTTs. Effective January 1, 2014, all Research Assistants and Assistant Instructors must be paid at least $39,058 if on an academic year contract or $44,963 if hired on a calendar year contract. Then, on July 1, 2014, the title Research Assistant merges into Research Associate and Assistant Instructor merges into Instructor. The title series for non-clinical, non-tenure track faculty are Research, Teaching, Professional Practice, and Librarian.

One particularly egregious issue we eliminated with the MOA is the non-renewable contract.

With the ratification of the new Collective Agreement that covers all full-time faculty (effective September 1, 2014 through June 30, 2018), other salary increases are being implemented. For example, the first increase is retroactive to September 1, 2014 for those who were on the payroll during the Fall Semester 2014. It is an Across-the-Board salary increase of $2,345 added to base salaries.

What is the significance of the end of non-renewable contracts?

The ending the use of non-renewable contracts is an important victory. During the campaign, Ann Gordon, who was the chair of the bargaining team, illustrated how RU administration's policy on non-renewable contracts had a distinctly "through the looking-glass" quality:

'a hill CAN'T be a valley, you know. That would be nonsense—' [said Alice]. The Red Queen shook her head, 'You may call it "nonsense" if you like,' she said, 'but I'VE heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!' -- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

In the world outside Rutgers University, the term “non-renewable” applies to the most popular books at the local library and to natural resources that cannot be replaced. Here at Rutgers, non-tenure track faculty know the term from their “Faculty Employment Agreement (UPF-5).” The employing dean chooses to check off either “Renewable” or “Non-Renewable.” Woe to the non-renewable.

Do not expect the words to have conventional meanings. Classifying an appointment as “non-renewable” is a powerful tool for which there are no rules. No one tells the deans, this case is a legitimate use for making a temporary non-renewable appointment and that one is an abuse. No one asks, if she is “non-renewable,” why are you reappointing her?

We know it is common to dub some faculty members “non-renewable” employees, while employing them year after year after year.

We know that long-term faculty members with “renewable” agreements can be surprised to discover their status changed to “non-renewable” without warning or explanation.

We know that a switch to “non-renewable” may signal future termination without any requirement that notice be given or procedures followed.

“Non-renewable” faculty members lack standard protections. Here’s how the Academic Appointments Manual of Rutgers sums up what is lacking. “The appointment letter for a non-renewable position should clearly state the term of the appointment, that no evaluation or reappointment will be possible, and that no further notice of termination of employment should be expected.”

You can teach for decades at Rutgers as a non-renewable faculty member, without the right to advance notice of termination and without being evaluated. Non-renewables never acquire any seniority because if they work beyond their initial appointment, they are, by definition, not renewed. Sometimes it is the person who is non-renewable, sometimes it is the position the person (temporarily) fills that is non-renewable, and in the confusion the employer oversteps fair employment practices. With these negotiations, we have an opportunity to rid Rutgers of such capriciousness.

Who are the Full-Time Non-Tenure Track (NTT) faculty?

They constitute 29% of the full-time faculty at Rutgers, numbering well over 800 employees (the number fluctuates but has been on a steady upward trend for several years). Nearly 50% of the NTT faculty is female, significantly higher than in the tenure-track faculty. NTTs work in almost every department in the university. Most fall within four categories: instructional faculty, research faculty, clinical faculty, and librarians.

The Rutgers AAUP-AFT fully supports its NTT faculty and opposes the inaccurate notion that it is a transient population of employees on their way to “real jobs” or back to their home countries. Careers are built at Rutgers with many NTTs serving for decades, leading distinguished programs, bringing in grants and teaching our students. We still have more compensation issues to tackle in the next round of negotiations, which includes all the full-time faculty and the TA-GAs.

Today, September 27, 2013, starting at 12:30 PM, Rutgers One activists are demonstrating in solidarity with non-tenure track (NTT) faculty in front of the Rutgers Student Center on the College Ave Campus in New Brunwick where the universitu's president, Robert Barchi, will address the University Senate at 1:10 PM.

Petitions were delivered to the Board of Governors and President Barchi on December 3, 2013 in the continuing effort to move the administration to settle the contract for NTT Faculty. See the text of the petition here.

Nearly everyone of the NTT faculty in the non-clinical titles will be affected in some way by the changes that the administration (at long last) agreed to last week. Read the Memorandum of Agreement. Attend meetings that the Rutgers AAUP-AFT will schedule and vote in January, when all members of the union will be asked to approve the settlement.

One last chance to gather names for the petition in support of non-tenure track faculty. I hope your name is there already, Colleague. But has your mother signed it yet? The person across the hall? Clerk at the cash register? Time to muster up. The petition–on paper, if you want, or electronic, as you prefer–is available.

Do not expect the words "non-renewable" to have conventional meanings at Rutgers. Classifying an appointment as “non-renewable” is a powerful tool for which there are no rules. No one tells the deans, this case is a legitimate use for making a temporary non-renewable appointment and that one is an abuse. No one asks, if she is “non-renewable,” why are you reappointing her?

Your participation in the contract campaign is making a difference. This past Thursday the Barchi bargaining team came back with an economic proposal that was 0.5% over their initial offer (see details of the bargaining positions in this News post).

Last week's Reclaim Rutgers Day of Action was a huge success. We need to keep up the pressure on management until we get an acceptable contract offer, so it's time to "spook" Old Queens in honor of Halloween.

We believe it is a positive sign that this week our team is finally bargaining directly with Dr. Richard Edwards, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chancellor of the New Brunswick campus. We're encouraged by their move to have someone at the table with academic credentials and a much clearer understanding of what faculty and TAs-GAs actually do.

An important survey about health insurance options has been sent to full-time faculty and TA-GAs at Rutgers as part of a project with other RU unions. Contact us, if you do not see the email with a link to the survey.

In anticipation of questions and concerns related to these new reappointment and promotion procedures (and a period of adjustment as units put into place the structure for these new procedures), we’ve developed a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Non-Tenure Track Faculty.

State laws that established the nonmember representation fee may be declared unconstitutional. We continue our mobilizing activities to build our strength via strong membership numbers and active member engagement.

In response to threats to Dr. Puar, the Executive Council reaffirms that academic freedom protects all scholarly research and communication, including criticism of the actions and morality of any government or non-state actor. The Union offers advice, training, and legal protection to any faculty member facing similar attacks from within or outside Rutgers University.

On February 26, 2016, President David M Hughes sent the following message to our members who are full-time faculty and teaching assistants-graduate assistants. The Executive Council and President Barchi both independently reaffirm commitment to academic freedom.

The union reached an agreement with RU management to change a section of Ethics Armor that intrudes on faculty privacy and freedom. The next step is for the State Ethics Commission to approve the change.

President David M. Hughes sent out the following message to members, letting them know how we are working to resist the imposition of Microsoft Office 365 and to stop the administration's corporate-style overreach in terms of surveillance of faculty email.

Join the national day of action at rallies planned to start at 3pm on Wed, November 16--info on rallies scheduled for Voorhees Mall (College Ave Campus-New Brunswick) and Paul Robeson Campus Center (Rutgers-Newark)!

Memorandum of Agreement (“MOA”) between Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and the Rutgers Council of AAUP Chapters, AAUP-AFT, for Successor Collective
Negotiations Agreements for the Faculty-TA/GA collective negotiations unit and the EOF collective negotiations unit.

This document is the media advisory sent out about the Rutgers One contract campaign solidarity action with the NTT faculty before the football game on Saturday, September 14, 2013. Student activist, Marios Athanasiou, is quoted: "If teachers are being treated this poorly, what kind of education do we think we’re getting?

This document is the Agreement (contract) from Wright State University, negotiated by the AAUP-WSU faculty union, for non-tenure track eligible faculty, ratified by union members on September 17, 2013, and signed by the WSU administration and the faculty union on September 20, 2013.

Download this petition and gather signatures. Education your family, friends, students, and colleagues about the effort to improve working conditions for full-time faculty who work in jobs that are not tenure-eligible. Return the signed petition to the union office at 11 Stone Street in New Brunswick.

AAUP-AFT Media Advisory about the Rutgers Board of Governors (BOG) refusing to allow the chair of the NTT Bargaining Team, Ann Gordon, to address the members of the Board at its December 3, 2013 meeting.

The "Short Form" policy document that guides the review process for reappointment and promotion to the rank of “Assistant Professor” for non-tenure track faculty, both Library and non-Library. Effective January 1, 2015.

This PDF contains Frequently Asked Questions about the full-time non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty's 2014 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), which created new job titles and career pathways for faculty who work full time off the tenure track.

This PDF is a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the procedures for promotion of non-library faculty who have a non-tenure-track appointment. These questions refer to procedures that are applicable to NTT faculty members at the rank of "Associate Professor" and above.

This PDF is the best place to start in order to obtain an overview of the procedures for the evaluation of full-time, non-tenure track faculty for appointment, reappointment, and promotion. Below are the contents of this PDF.

This document contains the sidebar agreement to develop an appropriate grievance procedure for NTT Faculty who are denied reappointment. A committee will be created upon ratification and develop the procedure before Commencent 2015.

One of the first and most important things you can do to prepare for an evaluation is to understand the procedures related to promotion. Read carefully the Promotion Instructions and understand your responsibilities – they are clearly set forth in the Instructions.

Below are sections of the Collective Agreement for the Full-Time Faculty and TA-GA bargaining unit that have been ratified by the members, plus a summary of Article VIII (Salary) and a Legal Memo about the "Subject to" language.

The Rutgers AAUP-AFT provides these general guidelines based upon the University/AAUP-AFT Memorandum of Agreement regarding non-tenure track faculty. These guidelines are provided for general informational purposes and the information provided herein may not apply or be advisable in all circumstances.

Ballots are sent via the regular USPS to the home address the union has on file. Follow instructions that come with your ballot materials. Return Ballot no later than 3pm on May 1, 2017 to Rutgers AAUP-AFT, 11 Stone Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

The parties recognize and declare that it is their mutual goal to maintain a harmonious relationship in determining conditions of employment. To this end they mutually enter into this agreement intended to state the employment relations between the University and the AAUP-AFT.

The AAUP-AFT and the University recognize and incorporate by reference in this Agreement the principles of academic freedom as adopted by the University’s Board of Governors on January 13, 1967 and as set forth in University Policy 60.5.1, last revised July 13, 2015 (as may be revised from time to time). All members of the negotiations unit are entitled to academic freedom, regardless of the m

1. The University recognizes AAUP-AFT as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of all Rutgers University faculty members, teaching assistants and graduate assistants as hereinafter defined. Groups of employees may be added or deleted by mutual consent of the parties.

1. All negotiations unit members are protected by and subject to University policies prohibiting discrimination, harassment, retaliation, workplace violence, sexual violence, relationship violence, stalking and related misconduct (as amended from time to time).

The AAUP-AFT and the University recognize the value of diversity and inclusion among the faculty, as well as among teaching assistants and graduate assistants. They mutually agree, therefore, to the following during the term of this Agreement:

Subject to the appropriation of and allocation to the University by the State of adequate funding for the specific purposes identified for the full period covered by this Agreement, the following economic provisions shall apply:

The purpose of this Article is to help ensure the integrity of the reappointment, promotion, and tenure procedures; to provide a process for determining whether evaluations resulting in negative personnel actions were flawed (as defined in A.1.) and to provide remedies in cases where defects are found. A defect does not encompass disagreement with the academic judgment of any evaluator or eval

The purpose of this Article is to help ensure the integrity of the reappointment and promotion process for Non Tenure Track (NTT) faculty, to provide a process for determining whether evaluations resulting in negative personnel actions were procedurally flawed, and to provide remedies in cases where such procedural flaws are found. Disagreement with the academic judgment of any eva

The Promotion Review Committee (PRC) will complete tenure evaluations on a schedule permitting all candidates for tenure to be notified in April of each year, following the meeting of the Board of Governors.

The University will furnish to the AAUP-AFT each year, at least 15 working days prior to distribution, a copy of all material contained in the Academic Reappointment/Promotion Instructions. All candidates shall be notified by the chair/unit director of the URL where the current Academic Reappointment/Promotion Instructions can be accessed.

The parties recognize that the University accomplishes a variety of academic and professional services including undergraduate, graduate, and professional instruction, research and community service. The professional duties required of the faculty shall be in accordance with the mission of the University.

A. The official personnel file for each faculty member shall be maintained in the office of the appropriate dean or director. The contents of this file, at the sole discretion of the University except as otherwise provided in this Article, may include the types of material listed below, as well as other materials:

A. Agenda materials for the regular monthly public meeting of the Board of Governors will be forwarded to the AAUP-AFT at the time they are distributed to the members of the Board of Governors with the following exceptions:

Rutgers and the AAUP-AFT agree that all members of the negotiations unit shall be entitled to enjoy, and shall be subject to, all terms and conditions of employment applicable to the negotiations unit provided for in the University Policy Library and not provided for herein. During the life of the Agreement or any extension thereof, any change in the University Policy Library that constitutes

Appointment for the academic year requires that the appointee be in attendance at the University from September 1 to Commencement, or an equivalent period, within each academic year unless excused by the appropriate academic officer.

A. This procedure is designed to expedite the resolution of problems that arise in connection with the reappointment of Graduate Assistants and Teaching Assistants at the University. The graduate student should first attempt to resolve informally any problem that arises as expeditiously as possible, in the case of Teaching Assistants, with the faculty administrator who oversees

When the University changes the promotional criteria and standards as embodied in Appendix D ("University Policies with Respect to Academic Appointments, Reappointments and Promotions"), University Policy Library, or written policies promulgated by the President or a Vice President of the University it shall notify the AAUP-AFT of the changes when they are promulgated.

A. The parties acknowledge the mutual benefits to be derived from joint consultation, improved communication and joint problem solving. Therefore, the parties hereby establish a Committee on Professional Relations.

AGREEMENT CONCERNING PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL EDUCATION (“COPE”) FOR EMPLOYEES REPRESENTED BY THE RUTGERS COUNCIL OF AAUP-AFT CHAPTERS, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS (“AAUP-AFT” OR “UNION”)

1. Grievances alleging that the reappointment, promotion or tenure decision of an evaluator or an evaluative body was based on discrimination towards the faculty member in violation of Article 4 must be filed in accordance with the following:

The AAUP-AFT agrees that if a court orders the return of representation fees deducted from the paychecks of non-members by the University and transmitted to the AAUP-AFT, the AAUP-AFT shall be solely responsible for the reimbursement of such fees.

As we continue our fight for a fair PTL contract, the faculty senate in Camden and New Brunswick have overwhelmingly voted to approve resolutions in support of a fair contract for part-time faculty. Language can be found here: